


a zero to a hundred

by slythos



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Comedy, Domestic Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gen, M/M, Sitcomish? Episodic, Slice of Life, renyanghyuck are roommates!, will update the tags as I go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:48:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24961807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slythos/pseuds/slythos
Summary: Five friends try to navigate through unfortunate college life. Well, at least they have each other... right?
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Na Jaemin, Huang Renjun & Lee Donghyuck | Haechan & Lee Jeno & Na Jaemin & Liu Yang Yang, Liu Yang Yang/Wong Kun Hang | Hendery
Comments: 10
Kudos: 42





	1. RJ & YY | dreams

**Author's Note:**

  * For [witchcult](https://archiveofourown.org/users/witchcult/gifts).



> for twt user @hyuckrens bc she wants renyanghyuck <3

"I had a dream," Yangyang croaks from his doorway. 

Renjun looks up from his painting only a little to look at Yangyang who's scratching his butt, not stopping mid-stroke. A slash of pink across the canvas, just like the video demonstrates. Good, now blend it with the light yellow. Very good, that looks nice. Kind of like a very pink dawn. Yikes, mix it more, mix it more. 

"You're not listening, I said I had a dream. A really weird dream."

"You always have a weird dream," he responds, dabbing for fresh pink. And a little white.

"No, like," Yangyang says. "I was on stage and there's a spotlight on me. It was really bright and my mind blacked out. I forgot what I was supposed to do. I don't know if I was supposed to sing or dance or recite a poem, or... eat fire or something." 

Renjun hums under his breath since that's usually enough to shut Yangyang up and send him back to sleep. It's not the first time he wakes up in the middle of the night and randomly divulges the adventures of his subconscious. Sometimes, it's good to indulge him a little.

The pink looks alarmingly reddish now, Renjun would freak out if he woke up to a dawn sky that looks like this. Shouldn't there be more blue? He reaches for blue, then debates against it, weighs his losses. Then, pokes the blue paint. He tilts his head to look at it from another angle. 

Oh, yeah. He definitely ruined it a little. Only a little, he can fix it. A small mistake like this can easily be corrected, it certainly doesn't warrant another (third) redo. It's okay, _Renjun, it's okay._

"I think I know what it means."

Renjun reaches for more yellow for damage control. "Yeah?"

"I'm gonna audition to be an idol."

This makes Renjun look at him more attentively, brush hovering temporarily over the platform. Yangyang looks like he just hopped out of bed and went straight to him to report his dream. Bleary eyes, dirty blonde tufts sticking out and everything. Something tells Renjun he's not even fully awake. 

"Oh yeah?" He carefully sets his paintbrush aside, ignoring his canvas screaming at him to smile sweetly at Yangyang. "You're doing that now?"

"Yeah, I am. I'm gonna... I'm gonna audition," Yangyang slurs, staring off into a blank space on the wall. Renjun turns his head to follow his empty gaze. He's staring at their Pororo wall clock. "And then I'm gonna show them how good I am."

"Yes, I'm sure you're very good at—"

"At eating fire."

"...at eating fire." Renjun snickers, making a beeline towards his semiconscious roommate and ushering him back into his room. 

"Wait, wait, wait, where are we going I said I'm auditioning."

"You can audition in the morning. It's..." He glances at another Pororo digital clock he keeps by his nightstand. "1 am. They're probably not starting auditions until noon."

"Ohhh."

Sometimes, it helps when you play along with Yangyang's dazed illusions and add tiny little details yourself just to make it more fun. It's a little game Renjun made up for himself. One time, Yangyang was sleep-talking about how he was a dragon guarding a princess all day every day, Renjun had asked him if he's watching the princess then who's keeping an eye on the rice he put on the stove and it effectively freaked Yangyang out that he made a dash to the kitchen. That's just one of those circumstances and he earns a good laugh each time. 

Yangyang crashes facefirst onto his bed so Renjun has to tug his blanket free from under him and spread it over his roommate's crouched body. A few seconds after Renjun resettles into his chair, Yangyang wonders back out again, rubbing his eyes. 

"I'm gonna be an idol, I have the time for it." 

"I— _yes,_ Yangyang. I'm sure you have. For now, bed." He pushes him back once more. 

When Yangyang appears in his doorway for the third time, he doesn't sound drunk with sleep. "I'm not even joking. I'm quitting school and I'm going to be an idol."

"Oh, for goodness' sake." Renjun gestures to the door. "By all means."

Yangyang blinks, then yawns. Then, he starts walking towards the door with a hazy purpose. With the intention of stopping the roommate before the reaches the door, Renjun bolts up from his chair so suddenly he hit his knee in the process with a loud _bang._ It only takes a second for him to realize both his pain and big mistake. The acrylic paint box set on the table, which was dangerously teetering off the side (Renjun holds his breath) _,_ spills to the floor along with the plastic cup of brownish paint water, tipping over and dousing the painting. Before his very eyes, the reddish-bluish hard work of tonight turns irreversible brown.

At that moment, something died within Renjun. He even forgets about his knee. 

It seems to do the trick for Yangyang because he stops in his tracks and turns on his heels as quickly as he can, _"Okay good night, Renjun,"_ leaving his roommate collapse on his knees _(ow fuck, the knee!)_ and on the verge of tears. 

Maybe sometimes, it's also good to scream at your roommate for being indirectly responsible for the unfortunate things to happen to you in one sitting. So Renjun does at 1 am, "Argh! Liu Yangyang!" 


	2. RJ | bad egg

Renjun opens the cupboard, and lo! _The last cup of noodles._

"Ha!"

He holds the cup noodles close to his chest the entire time as he waits for the heater to boil water for him, feeling, _well,_ rather pathetic now that self-consciousness hits him square in the face. But whatever. The roommate is not around to judge him for cradling Shin Ramyun like his precious newborn baby he's about to name the brightest star in the galaxy after. Plus he's too tired to care at this point: half-past 3 am and still halfway through his goddamn essay with a brain running on fumes. He waltzes around the kitchen, dancing with the only thing that is giving his bleak life meaning and hope. 

"I love you," he whispers to the glowing red packaging of the cup noodles. _Aww, it's blushing!_ "You are the light of my life. I would die for you."

And he would. Literally. 

The heater whistles a sweet tune of calling, and Renjun cracks the sweetest smile he has ever cracked in the previous few months of his life. It's a sad realization, but _that's okay,_ college life is supposed to be like this. A long, winding road composed of strings of failed tests, essays with overlapping deadlines, a couple of times his boyfriend left him on _Read_ on the same day, and to top it all off _,_ the news of the neighborhood cat (he lovingly named _Agatha_ ) getting run over by a delivery motorcycle, _but that's okay! Ha ha ha!_ That is how life is supposed to be! Bad things happen, but so do good things!

This shiny, delicious, and hot and spicy Shin Ramyun for instance...

Renjun gets to work. He carefully peels off the lid from the cup, just wide enough to pour the boiling hot water in. The steam momentarily blinds him before putting the lid back on, giving it a loving pat so it stays. He saunters to the fridge when he remembers he still has one egg left, _that's lucky of him._ See? Good things do happen every day! Things are finally looking up for him, he could almost feel his fingers flying across the keyboard and his brain revitalizing from the tasty, healing meal he's about to sink his teeth into.

He stops in front of the cup and looks at the egg. He might need to cook this properly though. 

No sweat. A little bit more patience could be spared. He bustles around the kitchen with a spring in his step, whipping out cookwares and throwing the contents of the cup into the pot, whistling. Well, he tries to. All that comes out are just breathy, wisps of air that are barely tunes but it's the intention that matters. _He's happy, okay?_ He's about to enjoy a delicious meal and nothing, not even his whistling insecurities can destroy his mood right now. 

_"Ah."_

The soup is glowing around the edges, the aroma wafting lustfully from the pot to his nose and begging for him to consume. It's almost done. Almost! Now, for the _killing_ part. The highlight of the meal.

Renjun cracks the egg on the side of the pot with one hand and lets the contents inside dive into the soup, all _Masterchef_ -like. 

"Huh? What the hell..."

A weird, rancid smell suddenly hits his nose so hard he pinches it, whipping his head around to find the source. He couldn't even identify exactly what the smell is. It's like a mix of something that is feculent and rotten...

In horror, he turns the shell of the egg and finds the remaining contents drop shamelessly into the pot, something nasty and red pooling at the bottom of it. 

It was a bad egg. 

The egg was bad. And it's in his soup now. 

The entire world shatters and he sinks to the ground, life seeping out of him. 

Renjun, contrary to popular belief, doesn't always cry easily. He prides himself on his mental fortitude and optimism. He didn't cry when he failed the tests because he knew he slacked off, and _that's fine._ He's not crying over some tests. He didn't cry over his essays either, no matter how many they are and how hard they're on his sleep-deprived brain right now. He didn't cry over Mark leaving him on read _because fuck him,_ he's not worth it. At least, not at this moment. 

He didn't cry over Agatha's death, not even as he and Yangyang paid their respects at the back of the apartment complex, planting some sunflower seeds beside the mound because she loved lounging on the sunflower bed lining the perimeter of the establishment. 

Renjun is certainly _not_ crying over some noodles now. He gets up to throw the ruined soup and sits down in front of his laptop, picking up from the part where he left off. A few minutes later, his phone _pings_ with a notification and he peeks, reading Yangyang's text, _Yo, still up? Brought you some souppppp and coffee hope ur still up or else i'll have to eat this myself :p_

Renjun breaks down, sobbing. 

**Author's Note:**

> loosely inspired by svt works: 10, nine, 8 (maybe this is fate) by sodakissed and _life of slice _by Lorem_Yipsum (that has been since deleted from ao3 TT). the format follows both fics' closely. on tv, think friends, the office, hospital playlist. episodic. sitcomish. slice of life.__


End file.
